Franco Baldini has distanced himself from his own recent comments on Daniele De Rossi and insists reports that Roma want to sell the midfielder are "not true".

Earlier this month, in an interview with Sky Italia, the general manager stated that the capital club "would listen again" to any offer for the 29-year-old who was linked with a switch to Manchester City this past summer.

On Friday however, Baldini, who was one of Fabio Capello's assistants during his spell as England boss, told reporters he had mis-spoken and reiterated the importance of the highly-rated Italy international to the Roma team.

"I was careless when I spoke about De Rossi," he said. "It is not true that we want to sell him, we all know how important Daniele is for this team."

After enduring a tricky start to his Manchester United career, perhaps it is fair that Marcos Rojo celebrated so boisterously as he watched his first professional club Estudiantes beat fierce rivals Gimnasia